Foreign Policy Blogs

Crucified Frog Art?

I wasn't sure that I should repost the picture of this piece of "art" here, but without a picture it is really impossible to imagine what a crucified frog would look like. In fact, I almost missed this story altogether – but last week the Museum in Bolzano announced that it would not take down the display despite the Pope's request. I think it's rather sad that the frog is actually supposed to depict the artist (the late Martin Kippenberger) and human anguish. The letter from the Vatican said that the religious sentiments of many people were wounded. So, does it offend religion as a whole – just Christianity – just the Roman Catholic Church – or only the artist himself, who also took a video of himself being crucified? It's a sad world, and this "frog" is a grotesque thing indeed – after all, why is it holding an egg and a beer mug?

crucified-frog-ital_797428f.jpg
See here for one source of the picture and an article.

 

 

Author

Karin Esposito

Karin Esposito is blogging on religion and politics from her base in Central Asia. Currently, she is the Project Manager for the Tajikistan Dialogue Project in Dushanbe. The Project is run through the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies with the support of PDIV of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The aim of the project is to establish practical mechanisms for co-existence and peaceful conflict resolution between Islamic and secular representatives in Tajikistan. After receiving a Juris Doctorate from Boston University School of Law in 2007, she worked in Tajikistan for the Bureau of Human Rights and later as a Visting Professor of Politics and Law at the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Strategic Research (KIMEP). Ms. Esposito also holds a Master's in Contemporary Iranian Politics (2007) from the School of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iran and a Master's in International Relations (2003) from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (GIIDS) in Switzerland.

Areas of Focus:
Islam; Christianity; Secularism;

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